The present invention relates in general to systems and methods for monitoring the activities of computers. More particularly, the invention is directed to systems and methods for selectively and contemporaneously monitoring the states of client application type processes executing in a multiprocess server of a client-server network.
The client-server processing model has been widely adopted in the definition of distributed computing type networks. In the context of such networks, better performance with higher degrees of service concurrence have been exhibited by server operating systems which execute multiple client application programs through multiple processes. Examples are the OS/2.RTM. and AIX.RTM. operating system programs commercially available from IBM Corporation. In contrast, single process operating systems require the server to await the completion of a current client's application program before commencing any aspect of a new client's application program.
The present concept of multiprocessing from the software perspective should not be confused with classical multiprocessing from the hardware perspective. From the hardware perspective, microprocessors such as the Intel Corp. models 80386 and 80486 incorporate time sharing features which accomplish multiprocessing through a time allocation for the different instructions being processed. In contrast, microprocessors such as the Intel Corp. model 80286 do not provide such a hardware capability, requiring that software manage any concurrent execution of multiple application programs. Operating system software which accomplishes this task for a 80286 type processor, and equally for the 80386 and 80486 microprocessors, is the aforementioned OS/2 operating system program. The present invention is directed to process management in the context of such an operating system, and not in the context of management by the microprocessor hardware.
The client-server network architecture is generally well known. With the advent of multiprocessing operating system capabilities in the servers, associating the activities occurring in the server to specific client application program processes has proven to be a significant challenge not only for the user clients but even for network administrators. Though operating systems, such as the aforementioned AIX program, provide resources for monitoring the state of a composite operating system on a server workstation, no contemporaneous information is provided about the states of the individual client application processes executing on the server. This level of information is particularly important to developers of client-server application programs. For example, presently available operating system monitors do not provide users with information regarding the server's work on a specific application program, or why a specific application program is hung up, or the identity of a semaphore delaying an application process. This deficiency is attributable to the fact that present operating system monitors do not link to the individual application processes, but rather, reflect the state of the composite of all server processes, viewed from the level of the operating system. Though trace log data could be generated in sufficient detail, the volume of the data requires storage to disk and time consuming analysis.
Therefore, a need exists for a monitoring system which provides contemporaneous information about the status of individual client application processes undergoing execution on a multiprocessing server in a client-server network.